Coconut Mango Cake

Don’t worry, yes, it’s still edible, albeit the unorthodox pre-plating presentation. So why the smashing? Why not. It’s an artistic choice. Some people slice and plate. I prefer smash and scoop.

It works because the taste is pretty fantastic. And I didn’t have any objections to the messy plating. Although it’s hard to go wrong with a cake built on alternating layers of coconut sponge cake and mango curd. Now that we’ve established the cake components are solid, here’s where the cake does go wrong: the assembly.

See how the layers aren’t leveled and no matter how I turned the cake stand the divots are still easily spotted. Along with that I screwed up the layering. The cake was suppose to have alternating layers of coconut buttercream and curd, but as you can see its all curd. With all the screws up, I decided to show the “well effort-ed”, but not good-enough fully assembled cake whose boss with a little smashing. I know, I have issues (what a career-killing statement, but I never promised anything sensible or normal would come out of this space). In my defense—why be normal when I can be happy?

Place egg whites in a stand mixer bowl fitted with a wire whisk and beat on low until eggs are foamy. Add in cream of tartar and sugar and beat on high until stiff peaks forms.

Place coconut, almond flour, cake flour and confectioner sugar in a food processor bowl and process until well blended and coconut is finely ground; set aside.

Place whole eggs, vanilla and salt in stand mixer bowl and beat on high until eggs triple in volume and forms a ribbon when whisk attachment is lifted. Turn off mixer and using a sturdy spatula fold in flour mixer until just combined.

Slowly and gently fold flour mixture into egg white mixture until just combined. Pour batter into jelly roll pan, using an offset spatula to gently and evenly spread batter to edges of pan.

Bake at 425 degrees F or until top is lightly golden. Remove from oven and transfer cake to a cooling rack to rest for 10 minutes. Loosen the edges of cake and cut out rounds with parchment paper attached. Once cut, gently peel away paper and place back on paper during assembly.

Transfer mixture to stand mixer bowl, fitted with a whisk attachment and beat on medium speed until mixture becomes foamy, then increase speed to high and beat until it cools and doubles in volume.

Add butter in one piece at a time, mixing to incorporate after each addition. The mixture may appear clumpy and almost curdled looking-this is normal. Keep mixing and it will become even and smooth again. Add salt and coconut cream mix to combine.

ASSEMBLY

Set aside 1 cake layer for top of cake.

Place a dab of frosting on a cake board. Place a cake layer down on dollop. Pipe frosting around perimeter of cake (this will create a wall to hold the mango curd in place). Fill center with curd, using an offset spatula evenly spread curd to edge of piped wall. Place a second layer on top and place a dollop of frosting on top, then evenly spread to edge of cake.

Repeat step 2 with remaining layers. Place final cake layer (set aside layer) on top and evenly spread frosting across it. Spread a crumb coat around entire side of cake and leave as is or finish cake with desired decorating effect.

Naomi…
This is the most beautiful picture of the cake I have seen… EVER!
Just gorgeous!
Seriously I will be honest here… I love the flavor but I just cannot takeaway my eye from the shots to read the recipe…
Beautiful!

I consider that as a glorious mess! Not everyone can do that. Love all your messy shots and the non messy one too. As for the cake, well, first I have to manage to do a two layer before I can even think of attempting this one.

I think this cake looks amazing. Who cares if its slightly off, in fact, you’re the only one that can tell. I can’t believe after all that hard work that you smashed it. Although I’m sure even smashed it tasted great!

About Naomi Robinson

Welcome to my cozy corner where baking meets random thoughts and musings. I’m a self-taught baker sharing all things sweet (and some savory—okay, and cocktails) with a whisk in one hand and a camera in the other.